Ginobili keys decisive run as Spurs top Rockets

Nov 15, 2006 - 4:11 AM
HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The San Antonio Spurs showed the upstart
Houston Rockets they have a ways to go to challenge in the
Western Conference.

The bench sparked a big run and Manu Ginobili scored 19 points
as the Spurs rallied from a big deficit for a 92-84 victory over
the Rockets.

Tim Duncan scored 19 points and paced a big second-half
defensive effort by San Antonio (6-1), which held Houston to 28
points after intermission en route to its fifth straight win.

"You can credit San Antonio with continuing to play when it got
tough for us in the fourth," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.
"We had a lot of give to us. That's the difference in the
teams right now.

"If you're only going to play in this league hard and with great
purpose when it's going well for you, then you're going to be
limited because many times in this league, it doesn't go well
for you."

Houston (5-3), a team on the rise looking to tie San Antonio for
the lead in the Southwest Division, was in complete control for
2 1/2 quarters, building a 19-point lead at one point.

"Our bench turned the game around for us and gave us an
opportunity to come back and win the game," Duncan said. "We
were not good defensively in the first half, and then the effort
in the second half was our best defense of the year."

With a lift from their reserves, the Spurs went on a 30-4 run
bridging the final two quarters to take an 88-79 lead with 4:11
left.

"Our starters didn't play very smart in the first half, but they
came back," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Beno (Udrih),
Robert (Horry) and Francisco (Elson) are the reason we won this
game."

The Spurs scored the last 13 points of the third. Michael
Finley started the run with a driving layup with 2:36 left and
Horry hit a 3-pointer before Udrih canned a pair of shots from
the arc around a layup.

"I've been 0-for-all year (on 3-pointers) so it was about due,"
Horry said. "It was just a matter of time. It's been a very
frustrating start for me. I've been telling everybody how much
I don't like the ball at all."

Finley opened the fourth with a turnaround jumper before Horry's
fast-break dunk tied the game at 75-75. Ginobili then took
charge, scoring on a pair of layups, a 3-pointer and another
layup before Duncan converted a layup to cap the run and give
the Spurs an 88-79 lead with 4:11 to go.

Yao Ming scored 20 points but shot just 7-of-21 from the field
for Houston. He had scored 69 points in his previous two games
on 26-of-40 shooting.

"Pop (Popovich) put me on him in the second half, and we tried
to make it crowded on him in the lane and contested every shot
he took," Duncan said. "Yao is much the same player, but his
quality of touches is better."

Tracy McGrady scored 26 points - 21 in the first half - for the
Rockets, who shot just 2-of-17 in the final period to have their
four-game winning streak snapped.

"We maybe felt too good about ourselves," McGrady said. "We
stopped fighting, and when you've got a team down like San
Antonio, you have to continue to execute and provide that kind
of energy because they're too good.

"When things started to get tight, we folded. In order for us
to be at that level that San Antonio is at, we have to learn how
to close these types of games out. Hopefully, we learn from
this mistake."